Ventura County chefs, diners prepare for final days of foie gras

Many chefs, diners not looking forward to ban

Chef Tim Kilcoyne rearranges sunflower sprouts atop a piece of sauteed foie gras while posing in the dining room at The SideCar Restaurant in Ventura.

Ventura County Star

Tim Kilcoyne isn't doing anything illegal. Yet.

Standing at the stove in the kitchen of The SideCar Restaurant in Ventura, he shakes a pan over high heat, sending a brief burst of flame shooting into the air.

In the pan are a few sprigs of fresh thyme, a couple of cloves of garlic and the ingredient of the hour: foie gras.

The words are French for "fatty liver." And on July 1, they will disappear from restaurant menus and supply forms all over California.

That is the day on which a law prohibiting the production and sale of foie gras in California will take effect, making it the only state to enact such a ban.

But on this day two weeks before the deadline, Kilcoyne is test-driving a dish that pairs a seared slice of foie gras with crostini, a drizzle of plum mostarda and a mound of sunflower sprouts. The combination could make its way onto the appetizer menu, which Kilcoyne, the owner and executive chef, updates weekly.

"We've been offering foie gras more often with the ban approaching. People have been asking for it and I want to show all the ways it can be used," Kilcoyne said of the ingredient known for its buttery texture and rich but subtle flavor.

On Wednesday, Kilcoyne plans to answer that get-it-while-you-can demand by presenting a dinner that will showcase foie gras in each of its five courses. A portion of the proceeds from tickets, $150 per person, will go to C.H.E.F.S., or the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards.

The California-based group of chefs has mounted an 11th-hour campaign to block the ban or to at least postpone it. Dinners like the one planned by Kilcoyne are part of the group's efforts to educate the public about the law and to support what it calls a "broader standard for ethical treatment of animals and humane farming practices."

But the law, known as Senate Bill 1520, already has been a long time coming.

Written by California Democratic Party chairman John Burton when he was president pro tem of the state Senate, it was signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.

Enactment of the bill was set for nearly eight years later to give foie gras producers time to find an alternative to force-feeding, the method by which the livers of ducks and, more traditionally, geese, are fattened before the birds are slaughtered.

But producers failed to meet the challenge, "which means that the wait is over and, come July, the production and sale of foie gras from force-fed animals will be prohibited" in California, Burton wrote in an opinion piece published by the Los Angeles Times in April.

At issue is gavage, the method of inserting a 6- to- 10-inch tube into a bird's throat to deliver up to 450 grams of corn per feeding. The feedings take place two or three times a day over the final three or four weeks of the bird's life, causing its liver to swell as much as 10 times its normal size.

A whole, 1.8-pound "lobe" of foie gras can fetch about $110 on the gourmet-delicacy market.

Supporters of the ban include the Humane Society of the U.S., the Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The American Veterinary Medical Association neither supports nor opposes the ban, on the basis that the organization does not take positions on specific production practices.

The AVMA's Animal Welfare Division stated in a 2007 document that "force feeding is possible with ducks as they are able to swallow large food items and so possess a relatively large and robust esophagus ... The degree of discomfort experienced during force feeding and immediately afterward while the esophagus is distended remains unclear."

What is clear to Animal Legal Defense Fund spokeswoman Megan Backus is that public sentiment is on the side of the ban, not of those attempting to overturn it.

"A small handful of chefs are complaining ... and pursuing a legislative repeal effort," Backus wrote in an email. "The animal protection community will vigorously fight to protect this law that Californians strongly support and that well over 95 percent of restaurants already comply with."

Using foie gras produced by small, family-run businesses that raise their animals in humane conditions fits the ethical, seasonal and sustainable focus of his restaurant, Kilcoyne said.

"For me, it's about using as many of the parts that get thrown out as possible. We do veal sweetbreads from Niman Ranch. We've done pig's ears. One of our steaks has a bone marrow sauce," he said. "We've done brains, but not as often as I might like. That one's a hard sell."

Kilcoyne said he has purchased his foie gras from two domestic producers known for raising and keeping ducks in cage-free environments: Hudson Valley Foie Gras of New York state and Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras, the only producer in California.

Founded in 1986, Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras last week was dismantling its farm, which also produced duck breasts, duck confit and rendered fat, said owner Guillermo Gonzalez.

"Whether we like it or not, the foie gras debate in California is playing out on a world stage, and we strongly believe that (the state) has the opportunity to show that science, and not violence and propaganda, determines law," Gonzalez wrote Thursday in an email to The Star.

"If foie gras falls, it will set a dangerous precedent for animal agriculture and beyond. It will show that a powerful minority has the ability to impose its morals on us all," Gonzalez added.

FIGHTING WORDS

Fighting the foie gras ban isn't just a matter of saving a delicacy typically enjoyed by wealthy diners, said Frederick Chandler, the Los Angeles resident behind the Twitter handle @savefoiegras.

"Animal-rights groups should focus on real issues that matter instead of trying for an easy win in banning something that the general public and government officials are not well-informed on. It's sending the message that it's easier to get rid of an arcane foreign tradition than to contemporize it," Chandler said.

As a Frenchman, Serge Bonnet is shocked by the ban. "You would never see it happening in France. People would riot," he said.

But as the former owner of Cafe Provencal, a French restaurant that closed its doors in Thousand Oaks in March, Bonnet questions whether the foie gras ban will have much effect on Ventura County diners.

"It is more of an upscale dish, like caviar," said Bonnet, who now works as a restaurant and special-events consultant via his business, Scoopco.

Bonnet said he liked to include foie gras imported from France on the Cafe Provencal menu for New Year's Eve and other special occasions. He fears that the ban will create a black market for the delicacy in larger California cities, rendering the animal-welfare intentions of the law void.

"I understand wanting to stop animal abuse. But we have to look at where animal cruelty is really happening and I don't think it's on these small duck farms. I think we might want to take a harder look at some of these big factory farms," said Michel Bardavid, owner and executive chef of The Secret Garden in Moorpark.

The restaurant does not serve foie gras "because there is not a big demand for it in Moorpark," Bardavid said. Instead, he offers escargot and frog's legs for his more adventurous diners.

Bardavid predicts the foie gras ban will eventually be lifted, leading to "a big celebration when people can get it again, like Prohibition."

At Le Petit Cafe & Bakery in Ventura Harbor Village, orders are up for a $22 appetizer that pairs seared foie gras with scallops, said co-owner and executive chef Jean-Luc Guionnet.

"People want what they soon will not be able to have," said Guionnet, who uses individual, flash-frozen portions of foie gras imported from Canada.

When the sale of foie gras was outlawed in Chicago from 2006-08, some restaurants sidestepped the ban — which invoked a $250 fine — by offering pricey salads and glasses of wine that just happened to come with foie gras on the side.

But in California, where violators will be fined $1,000, the focus has been on repealing the law rather than thumbing one's chef's toque at it.

"If I have any left after the deadline, I will eat it myself," Guionnet said.

"Top Chef" star and Moorpark restaurateur Fabio Viviani, who presented a five-course foie gras dinner at his Los Angeles restaurant Firenze Osteria in March, said in a Twitter post last week that he had stashed some foie gras in his chest freezer, presumably for private consumption.

And Kilcoyne? What will he do with any leftover foie gras at the stroke of midnight Saturday?

"That's presuming we'll have any," he said. "But I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Dinner menus bid farewell to foie gras

While some California restaurants have already dropped foie gras from their menus, others plan to keep serving it until July 1, when the ban takes effect. Here's a partial list of area restaurants that fall into the latter group; call for hours of operation:

The SideCar Restaurant (3029 E. Main St., 653-7433): In addition to featuring a different foie gras appetizer on the menu each week for the past couple of months, owner and executive chef Tim Kilcoyne on Wednesday will present a five-course dinner using product sourced from Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras in California and Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York state. A portion of the proceeds will benefit C.H.E.F.S., or the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards. Dishes include a dessert of foie gras ice cream with brown butter peaches and pistachio brittle. Seatings are available from 5 p.m. The cost is $150 per person.

Santa Barbara

Julienne, 138 E. Canon Perdido St., 845-6488): The Common Table at the restaurant operated by the husband-and-wife team of Justin and Emma West will be the setting for four-course foie gras dinners at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Dishes include braised lettuce soup with seared foie gras and, for dessert, Foie Gras & Donuts with market berry compote. The cost is $75 per person.

Los Angeles

Animal (435 N. Fairfax Ave., 323-782-9225): Owners Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are famous for their foie gras biscuit served with maple sausage gravy, just one of the many foie gras dishes featured on the regular menu.

Beer Belly (532 S. Western Ave., 213-387-2337): A special foie gras dinner is being planned for Saturday at the Koreatown gastropub. Call for details.

Melisse (1104 Wilshire Blvd., 310-395-0881): A vocal critic of the ban, owner and chef Josiah Citrin will continue to serve his eight-course "Foie for All" menu through Saturday. Dishes include foie gras flan with blood orange gelee and toasted hazelnut foam. The cost is $185 per person.

N/Naka (3455 Overland Ave., 310-836-6252): A seven-course foie gras menu showcasing Japanese techniques and flavors is available for $180 per person.

Petrossian (321 N. Robertson Blvd., 310-271-0576): Armagnac-poached foie with summer berry gazpacho is one of the dishes on a five-course menu created by Giselle Wellman, executive chef at the combination restaurant and gourmet market in West Hollywood. Other dishes include asparagus salad with black summer truffles and foie gras ravioli. The cost is $100 per person. Some dishes also are available a la carte.